Monday, November 30, 2015

Thanks to you, 2015 was a banner year of achievement for us.
In addition to announcing the plans to convert the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm
for farming and food-related education, HBI has completed transformational
projects throughout the city, including:

The $1.9 million renewal of Hyde Park’s Vertullo Building (1868), restoring the exterior of the
building to its 1890s appearance and upgrading systems and interiors for four
residences and five new retail spaces.

Designation to restore the long vacantUpham’s Corner Comfort Station in Dorchester (1912), a rare surviving arts and crafts style building
associated with expansion of the streetcar system in Boston for a bike repair
shop operated by local Dorchester entrepreneur Noah Hicks.

Start of construction on the 1911 Roslindale Substation,
repositioned as a new destination restaurant by Dorchester entrepreneur Chris
Douglass, surrounded by 43 new apartments in Roslindale Village.

It is with great pleasure that HBI announces the addition of
Perkins + Will (P+W)
to the design team for the renovation and redevelopment of the Fowler Clark
Epstein Farm to become the home and headquarters for the Urban Farming Institute
(UFI).

P+W approached HBI through UFI and The Trust for Public Land
(TPL), two of our development partners, with the purpose of committing the
resources of their pro bono program and Social Responsibility
Initiative (SRI) to the important work of renovating and repurposing of the
historic Fowler Clark Epstein house and barn and designing of the landscape
around the ¾ acre Mattapan site for urban farming.

In 2015, HBI completed restoration of the1868 Vertullo Building in Hyde Park,
one of the few surviving commercial buildings dating from the year in
which Hyde Park was established as an independent town. HBI acquired the
mixed use building and restored it to its 1890s appearance with
Victorian decoration and system and utility upgrades. Four upper story
residences were upgraded and five new small businesses have opened on
the first floor.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

HBI’s newest printnewsletter Bricks and Mortar is available
now on our website. Highlights include stories on
the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm, HBI’s strategic plans for the future, and
updates on the Bike Kitchen at the Upham’s Corner Comfort Station. Download a
copy or, for a hard copy, email us at hbi@historicboston.org.
And if you’d like to be on our snail mail list, please email us your mailing
address. Enjoy!

Each year at Thanksgiving, staff at
Historic Boston share their favorite Thanksgiving recipes. But this year we changed
it up a little; we asked our new friend Phyllis Tobin of Newton to share one of
her favorites.

Mrs. Tobin showing off her Epstein original jewlery

Mrs. Tobin grew up in Mattapan just
down the street from the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm. When she saw the announcement of HBI’s plans for the Fowler
Clark Epstein Farm she reached out to us and we invited her to join us for lunch
at the Eustis Street Firehouse, along with members of TPL and UFI, so she could
tell us her stories of growing up in Mattapan.She was an enormous font of
memory.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Last Friday, Jamaica Plain’s Historical Society’s Michael Reiskind stopped by HBI to deliver an apple pie.
This was no ordinary pie, but a Roxbury Russet apple pie. The Roxbury Russet
Apple is the oldest named apple in America , dating back to the 1600s. While
they are no longer widely grown, Michael was able to find some at an orchard in
New Hampshire. To create his master(pie)ce he used 5lbs of the russet and
infused the pie crust with lemon. It was delicious! Thank you, Michael!

HBI recently closed on the purchase of the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm, what is likely Mattapan’s oldest building. Partnering with the Urban Farming Institute (UFI), The Trust for Public Land (TPL), and North Bennet Street School (NBSS) redevelopment of the farmstead will couple the mission of preserving a significant historic Boston Landmark with the mission of farmer training and creating and promoting urban farming enterprises. The redeveloped farmstead will become the home and headquarters for UFI. The farmstead consists of a historic house (c. 1786-1806) and detached barn (1860) on about two-thirds of an acre and represents one of the earliest, intact vernacular examples of agricultural properties in Boston. With its history of agriculture and its location in an urban neighborhood sorely lacking =access to fresh produce, Fowler Clark Epstein Farm presents incredible opportunity to connect city residents to the history and modern day opportunities of farming providing experience-based education for youth, adults and families; and encouraging visitors to be informed and active in their local food system.

Fowler
Clark Farm Design: Studio G Architects

Rendering: Jeff Stikeman
Architectural Art

Coupling preservation with urban farming builds capacity for social impactAs a “preservation partnering” approach to real estate redevelopment, bringing together four nonprofit organizations is both a compelling idea and a challenging undertaking, and offers great potential for preserving a significant property, maximizing social impact, and helping to revitalize an inner-city neighborhood. The alignment of missions, the sharing of resources, and determining fundraising strategies are all layered on top of the other more typical aspects of partnering such as defining roles and responsibilities of the partners and working through the communication and personality aspects of a business partner relationship.

Friday, November 6, 2015

HBI is honored to be the
recipient of a program-related investment (PRI) from the 1772 Foundation of
Rhode Island that will be used to support pre-development work on HBI
projects.The 1772 Foundation will give
HBI a $400,000 low-interest loan at a fixed rate of
2% for a five-year term.